Misionero Vegetable Sales in Salinas, CA, is taking an opportunity at the
Produce Marketing Association's foodservice expo in Monterey, CA, to
showcase some recently launched products, most notably "our 10-pound filet
pack on Romaine and green leaf," said Dan Canales, vice president of sales
and marketing.

For more than 17 years, Misionero has been offering “our washed and
trimmed” Romaine and green leaf, which is essentially the whole head,
including the large outer leaves, the medium inner leaves and the small leaves
at the center of the head — but already washed and trimmed, with no waste
and 100 percent useable, Mr. Canales said.

The washed and trimmed product has worked well for foodservice operators
who have multi-functional needs and can make good use of all of the various
sized leaves. But “quite frankly, we have been competing with the filets out in
the marketplace,” he said. “We finally had a realization that we had all of the
efficiencies in place and the capabilities to also do filets,” and “instead of
competing against another pack,” decided to “produce it ourselves” and offer
customers a choice. “You can have it washed and trimmed, or you can have a
filet pack.”

The leaves in the filet packs, rather than consisting of an assortment of sizes,
are sorted by size, “and you don’t have the small inner leaves,” he said. “It has
worked out very well. We have gotten some great reception from it.” Many
customers “like the washed and trimmed because they do have that multi-
usage at their operator level,” he said. “A lot of people like the filets because
they have a one-dimensional use for that product.”

The addition of the fillet pack has also “extended out to some additional
packs,” Mr. Canales said. One of them is a “cascade blend, which is … a
combination of the little petite leaves on the inside of the Romaine and green
leaf” combined with some radicchio.

That product, which is offered in two-pound bags packed three per case, will
also be featured at Misionero’s booth at the foodservice expo.

“We are also going to be showing a chopped Cosmopolitan/Romaine blend.” Cosmopolitan lettuce is a proprietary seed variety exclusive to Misionero that
combines the best features of Iceberg lettuce and Romaine, Mr. Canales
explained. “It took over seven years to develop” and is a “non-GMO,
naturally-bred variety.” Compared to chopped Romaine, the blend is a little
sweeter and a little crunchier. “It is a point of differentiation,” he said. Also,
“we have had very good success with our shelf life on that.”

Misionero has been offering the Cosmopolitan lettuce for several years in the
washed and trimmed format, “but we are just starting to get into the actual
chopping of it and putting it in two-pound bags,” he said.